In our age of extended courtships, the wedding is so often seen as the endgame – “mission accomplished!” But marriage is just the beginning. Writing a marriage mission statement will help keep the story of your marriage on track, goal oriented, and inspiring. This installment of Blank Canvas Living’s ‘rebranding a marriage’ blog serial is all about laying down a clear path for bringing your dreamy ‘why’ vision statement into reality.

“Start with a market defining story,” says Tim Berry, founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software and Bplans.com. Dan Pickett, CEO of nfrastructure, has a similar approach: “If you keep your company story in mind, you will always have a mission that speaks to everyone and pushes your company forward every day.” And don’t forget, it’s also important to keep your customers, shareholders, and owners in mind. So how do we apply this to a marriage?

What’s your love story? Who were you when you came together? Who do you want to become, together and as individuals? And how the heck are you going to get there? When my man and I met 12 years ago (and got married after 5 months – pure insanity) we were two starry-eyed kids with bold dreams. I was a writer, and he was a golfer. At the time, we had no idea how financially incompatible these goals were out there in the big ol’ real world. Golfing is expensive and writing fiction isn’t exactly the most lucrative vocation. We’ve both worked 9-5s to support our relationship and our passions, but, quite frankly, sometimes it’s been a bit of a bitch. Because when you want to be somewhere else, doing something else, this whole ‘real life’ thing can be a major pain in the butt. Love isn’t enough, true, but it’s gotten us pretty darn far.

But enough moping. It’s time to focus our love and recommit to our passions and each other with a revised marriage mission statement. Our shareholders are our families and friends; our customers are our community, and our owner, when it comes right down to it, is God. We took those vows (still can’t believe I got swept up into the romance of that Victorian old school “obey” business) and we didn’t pussy out with some “as long as our love shall last” bullshit. We’re in this until death, natural or, on snooze alarm battle mornings like today’s, possibly mutually facilitated. In honour of our dearly departed Leonard Nimoy, let’s look to Star Trek for a marriage mission statement template…

Marriage: the final frontier. These are the voyages of Cymbria and George. Their continuing mission: to explore strange new golf courses and stranger narratives, to (potentially) seek out new life while honouring their full support crew and God by taking them along on their marital journey of inspiration. To boldly go where no one has gone before, and to go there with love, together.

Whatever template or format you chose for your own marriage mission statement, the following quote from Nicole Fallon, Business News daily Assistant Editor, is important to keep in mind: “It provides the framework and context to help guide the company’s strategies and actions by spelling out the business’s overall goal.”

We all remember Bush’s battleship ‘mission accomplished’ catastrophe. Don’t let this happen to you! This ‘life’ thing can feel like one battle after another. A marriage mission statement will help make sure that at least you and your spouse are fighting on the same side.

Catch up on this Blank Canvas Living blog serial…
Change the game this Valentine’s Day
Writing a vision statement

And stay tuned for the next post…